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Canadian Going Private Transactions: Regulatory Approvals – Competition Act (Canada)

See Chinese version below [中文版参阅下文].

A transaction must typically be pre-notified to the Canadian Commissioner of Competition if both (i) the combined assets in Canada or gross revenues from sales in, from and into Canada of the acquirer and the target (as shown on their latest audited financial statements), together with their affiliates, exceed C$400 million and (ii) the assets in Canada or revenues in and from Canada of the target’s business exceed C$96 million (2020). The transaction cannot be completed until the appropriate clearance is obtained (either by the expiry of the applicable waiting period or if an exemption is obtained).

Because the Commissioner of Competition can challenge an anti-competitive transaction for up to one year after closing, the parties will not normally complete a transaction until the Commissioner and his staff complete their antitrust review and notify the parties that the merger will not be challenged. The review process can range from two weeks to several months depending on the complexity of the competition issues involved.

The Commissioner will signal the approval of the transaction by the issuance of an advance ruling certificate (ARC), which precludes challenges to the merger during the one year period following completion, or a “no-action” letter. The issuance of an ARC also exempts the parties from filing the formal notification form.

加拿大竞争法》

通常,交易如果满足下列两种情形必须事先通报到加拿大竞争专员,即:(i)目标公司和收购方及其附属公司在加拿大的合并资产或在加拿大,源于加拿大或出售到加拿大的销售收入总和(如其最新审计财务报表所示)超过4亿加元,以及(ii)目标企业在加拿大的资产或在加拿大或源于加拿大的收入超过9600万加元(2020年)。一项交易只有在获得适当的许可(或是适用的等待期满后或得到豁免)之后才可成交。

由于竞争专员在交易完成后的长达一年之内仍可对其提出违反竞争法的质疑,交易方一般不会在专员及其工作人员完成反垄断法审查并通知他们不会反对兼并之前完成交易。审查过程可以持续两周甚至数个月,取决于所涉及的竞争问题的复杂程度。

专员会通过发放先行裁决证明(ARC),或“无诉讼”信函表明其对交易的批准。先行裁决证明解除了兼并交易完成后一年内对交易提出异议的可能性,而且此证明的发放使交易方无须递交正式的通报表格。

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